Fully Altered Media is dedicated to securing placements for creative musicians and arts organizations in print, online, syndicated radio, and television. We monitor the latest in new media with regard to music marketing, digital and traditional distribution, and grassroots efforts to engage fans. We also maintain strong relationships with management, booking, marketing and radio promotion professionals with an ear towards jazz and world music.

About Matt Merewitz

Matt Merewitz founded Fully Altered Media in 2007 and has since become a top publicist for some of the biggest names in jazz and creative music such as Vijay Iyer, Miguel Zenon, Dave Douglas, Nels Cline, Chris Potter, John Hollenbeck, Myra Melford, Aaron Parks, Dan Tepfer, Theo Bleckmann, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Frank Foster, Bennie Maupin, Matt Wilson, Todd Sickafoose, Adam Rudolph, Linda Oh, Ryan Keberle and many others. Since 2006, he has overseen or consulted on publicity campaigns for top labels including ECM Records, Blue Note Records, Concord Music Group, Enja, Whirlwind Recordings, Firehouse 12, Pi Recordings, Cryptogramophone, Marsalis Music and many others.

Following a three-year stint at Philadelphia-based DL Media, Matt made the move to New York City in 2009 to take Fully Altered Media to the next level. His first independent clients included Pi Recordings (Amir Elsaffar, Steve Lehman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Fieldwork and Marc Ribot), Chicago drummer & festival producer Mike Reed, Philadelphia creative music presenter Ars Nova Workshop, saxophonist Chris Potter and pianist Vijay Iyer,

Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, after 6 years of classical piano study, the jazz bug bit at age 12 when he began taking the saxophone more seriously (early listening influences ranged from Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald to John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi period on Warner Brothers). He studied with respected Maryland-DC area saxophonists Jim Carroll, Andy Axelrad and Paul Carr, who instilled a deep love of the bebop/post-bop vernacular (who turned him onto Cannonball Adderley, Arnett Cobb, Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson and Art Blakey). While pursuing a major in public policy and a minor in jazz studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, he became immersed in college radio at WRCT-FM (where he discovered and delved deeper into the jazz avant garde as well as gaining an education in indie rock, electronic music, hip-hop, folk, singer-songwriter, alt-country, blues and reggae). In 2003 he began writing reviews for AllAboutJazz.com, booking concerts at CMU and was awarded internships with the Smithsonian Institution’s Jazz Appreciation Month, XM Satellite Radio, WDUQ-FM in Pittsburgh and eventually a job in the music publicity field at DL Media.

Aside from playing saxophone in his apartment and listening to lots of live and recorded music on a variety of outdated recorded formats, Matt enjoys eating out, live comedy, traveling, speaking French, watching indie/art films and listening to podcasts (notably Fresh Air and WTF with Marc Maron). He has an unhealthy obsession with social media. He is working on that.

About Stephen Buono

Stephen Buono is from the suburbs of Philadelphia, where he has spent most of his life with brief stints in Oregon and Latin America. His passion for music began at a very early age, starting with rap music of the late 80s and early 90s before becoming a devotee of Bob Marley.

While in college, some “filler” on a reggae mix tape led him to the world of instrumental music. After a quick stop as an avid Allman Brothers fan, he became obsessed with 1960s jazz and delta blues – namely Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Robert Johnson). For several years he thought the creative music scene was long dormant until he discovered some of the modern practitioners of the music via weekly trips to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Some of these same musicians have since become his clients. He became further involved in the East Coast music scene as a volunteer with Philadelphia’s Ars Nova Workshop. After ten years as a loyal supporter and fan of the music, he began to work for Fully Altered in 2008, ran his own firm for three years, Stephen Buono Publicity and rejoined Fully Altered as a partner in 2013. Stephen has worked on campaigns for clients including John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, Taylor Ho Bynum, Nels Cline, Brandon Seabrook, The Four Bags, Jacob Garchik’s The Heavens: The Atheist Gospel Trombone Choir and Cuddle Magic and most recently the Creative Content Coalition-NYC Chapter.

In addition, Stephen leads a post-rock band (his rock idols include The Minutemen, The Melvins, Lowell George, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Winwood), enjoys riding his bike and swimming in the ocean. He is involved in social activism in both Philadelphia and Latin America, where he lived for two years. He speaks Spanish and is an admirer of the late Victor Jara, Violetta Parra, Dorothy Day, Malcolm X, Monseñor Óscar Romero and Father Daniel Berigan.